Step by step
Place a paybill payment
A paybill payment with the admission number as the account reaches the learner by itself. One that matched no learner waits under Paybill to place, with Kila's suggestions.
Parents pay fees to the school’s M-Pesa paybill with the learner’s admission number as the account. Kila puts each such payment on the learner’s account by itself. A payment whose account Kila could not match, such as “FEES”, waits for the bursar to place it.
Not available yet
Paybill payments reach Kila as they are made only with M-Pesa payment notifications on and Kila’s M-Pesa connection live. Until then the M-Pesa card under Integrations and API says Prompts not connected, and changing the set-up says “Kila’s M-Pesa connection is not live yet, so prompts are not sent and payment notifications cannot be turned on.” Download the paybill’s statement from the M-Pesa portal and upload it: its payments are matched to learners the same way.
How a paybill payment finds the learner
Link to this section: How a paybill payment finds the learnerEach learner’s page says what to type, under Fees: Pays by M-Pesa with and the admission number, such as BMA/1001. Kila ignores the slash, spaces and capitals, so a parent who types BMA1001 reaches the same learner. The payment pays the oldest fee invoices first; anything beyond what is owed stays on the account as fees paid ahead.
Good to know
The owner chooses what a paybill account may match under Learners › Classes and terms, on the Settings tab: Match payments to students by account number, with The admission number or The fee account number (C-00012). “Money paid to the paybill (or found on a bank statement) with this account goes straight to the student’s fees.”
Open Paybill to place
In Today › Fees office, choose the tab Paybill to place. Its number is how many payments wait.
Read the payment
Each card shows the amount, the M-Pesa code and time, Account typed and who paid, from which phone.
Check Kila's suggestions
Under the payment, Kila lists who it may be for and why, such as Paid from Eunice Rotich’s phone: the children of the guardian whose phone paid. Without that, it suggests an admission number that ends with what was typed or is one key away from it, or a learner who shares a name with the payer. You decide.
Tap Place here
On the right learner, tap Place here. Kila says Placed: “THC92LU040 is on the learner’s account as PAY-001062.” The payment leaves the list and shows under Placed by hand recently, with Undo.
To share a payment between brothers and sisters, tap Split with siblings instead, type each child’s share until Shares add up to the whole payment, and tap Place.
Needs a manager
Placing needs someone who reconciles the money, such as the bursar or the owner. A fees clerk sees Paybill to place without the buttons.
It went on the wrong learner
Link to this section: It went on the wrong learnerOn the payment under Placed by hand recently, tap Undo. Kila asks:
Type the reason under Why and tap Undo. Then place it on the right learner. “Every placement and move is in the audit log and can be undone.”
Kila has no suggestion
Link to this section: Kila has no suggestionCall the number the payment came from. Then tap Find a learner, search under Find the learner, write who confirmed it under Note (who confirmed it) and tap Place here.
The money is not fees
Link to this section: The money is not feesLeave it here and match it in Reconciliation: the note at the top of the tab links to it.
- Take fees at the counter: payments at the office.
- Follow up fee balances: reminders wait while payments are still to place.
- Bursar: fees, sponsors and the books.
- Pay your fees by M-Pesa: the guide to share with parents.
Next: with nothing left to place, follow up the learners who still owe.